Week 1: Manual Mode and Workshop task

Manual mode is when both the shutter speed and aperture can be used independently, the camera meters the scene and can tell you what exposure your image will have. From this, you adjust either of the settings until the meter or the image looks the way you want it to.

Shutter speed: This is the setting that decided how long your camera will expose an image for. The normal shutter speed for camera's now is around 1/125. If the shutter speed is on for too long, your image will be exposed to too much light and will be very bright and harsh. Contrastingly, if it is not exposed enough it will be too dark. 

Aperture: The aperture is deciding how large you want your lens to be. This decides how much light will be let into the lens when taking an image. Smaller apertures (f3.2) will give you a larger lens, letting more light into the image. This is suitable for darker scenes. Large apertures (f32) will give you a smaller lens, suitable for daytime or bright scenes to avoid over exposure.

Workshop Task:
In our first task we were asked to familiarise ourselves with the camera and used what we had learnt from a brief introduction of using manual mode and try to incorporate it in our images. At first i tried to use manual mode but also took a majority of my images in auto mode as i was not confident enough to use it. Below i had attached my contact sheet for the task

Worst:

I argued this image as my worst, it really has no depth to it at all. There is a clear foreground and background however, because the colours are so similar, it is hard to distinguish the two unless you notice of depth of field.
I also think the subject is captured in quite a plain, boring way. If I was to look at it myself, i would not have much interest in it and would attract my attention to something else.  To improve this image i could alter the composition my increasing or decreasing my focal length. This would either bring more focus to my subject if i zoomed in. If i decreased the focal length, zooming out would introduce more textures and details, making the photograph more interesting. Similarly, I could change the perspective. By taking the angle at a different angle or level, i could make the image look more interesting or unusual which would again, interest and attract the spectator.

Best:

I argued this as my best image from the shoot. I capture a clear foreground, middle ground and background. I display a shallow depth of field in the background, while the subject is in focus. I like how the composition of the trees almost create a frame for the subject, drawing your eyes onto the point of interest. To improve this even more i could again play with the focal length and change the shots to more close up, portrait shots. I could also take the image at a different angle, which could give my image more depth.